


What To Do When Your Girlfriend Is A 10,000 Year Old Spirit Of Vengeance

by NorasPancakes



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: AU, F/F, Modern Thedas, Post-Trespasser, canon-divergent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 04:16:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15428808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorasPancakes/pseuds/NorasPancakes
Summary: Comments and feedback are always welcome!





	1. Backstory

After the defeat of Corypheus, The chantry had formally requested that the Inquisition be disbanded, citing the lack of need for an Inquisition following their victory. Inquisitor Lavellan had countered that the Inquisition was needed more than ever in light of the Chantry’s failings and abuse of power, the corruption of the Templars, and the plight of the Elves and other minorities across Thedas in general. Lexa Adaar is a young Qunari rogue and getaway driver for Sera’s Red Jennies, a sort of resistance, smuggling and bounty hunting organization. Lexa remembered watching the debates on TV. 

The way Lexa saw it, the Chantry was scared shitless that the Inquisition had become powerful enough to really challenge them. With the threat of Corypheus out of the way, Inquisitor Lavellan was free to devote all her passion and energy to bring about the change she was always talking about. Leliana had ascended the Sunburst Throne as the new Divine Victoria, but it seemed that her radical changes were only making things worse. Once she publicly declared her continuing support for the Inquisition at the Exalted Council there was an instant call for her to step down as Divine, with accusations that she was too biased as a former member of the Inquisition and close friend of the Inquisitor. 

Lexa was never much of a political junkie so she kind of tuned out all the drama on the news until the big headlines hit in quick succession a few days later: Divine Victoria had been deposed and replaced, the Chantry declared the Inquisition an illegal military occupational force and was intending to launch a new Exalted March against it. Even worse, the Inquisitor was now missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and feedback are always welcome!


	2. Baby Driver

“Maker’s breath Lexa, you drink coffee like a Templar takes Lyrium!” Dagna said, shaking her head. 

The young Qunari girl shrugged nonchalantly and smiled into her thermos as she took another sip.

“Yeah, well, it’s too early for this. I was up late last night.,” she said, pulling her earbuds out and pausing the music on her phone.

“Everything okay?” Dagna ventured hesitantly, looking at the shredded sleeve of Lexa’s leather jacket, and the bloodied bandage peeking out from underneath. “You look a little worse for wear. I mean not that it’s any of my business but -”

“I’m fine.”

Lexa gave her a sharp look and tried to look taller. She was only 19 and unusually short for a Qunari but she could hold her own in a fight if she had to, and she was one of the best getaway drivers the Red Jennies had. 

“I brought back what I went out for, didn’t I?”

Dagna raised her eyebrows and put up her hands in a mock surrender gesture. 

Lexa huffed out a sigh and dropped her eyes, scratching at the base of her left horn absent-mindedly. 

“Sorry. I just want to be taken seriously here, you know? I’m not a kid anymore. I just didn’t expect so many guards. Speaking of which….” Lexa took another slurp of coffee before continuing. “With all that gunfire, the Subaru is out of commission. I’ll need another car for my next run. I hope this stupid staff was worth it,” She grumbled, poking at the black rectangular case on the workbench. 

Dagna shooed her away, laughing. “Stop that! Stop stop stop. No touching! You’re the worst. Good thing Sera likes you so much or you’d be in big trouble. You didn’t have to take that job all by yourself, you know. What kind of security did you expect would be there?”  
Lexa flashed her a grin and plopped down cross-legged on the ground. “The fun kind. That hit on the Orlesian embassy last week was a blast. Quite literally, thanks to those little grenades you cooked up for us.”  
Dagna waggled a wrench accusatorily in Lexa’s direction. “Don’t try and sweet talk me, young lady. Go upstairs and talk to Sera. I think she’s planning something big for tomorrow.”  
“Byeeeeee!” Lexa said in a singsong voice as she hopped up and headed for the stairs. 

 

Sera was pacing the room, alternately giggling and swearing as she listened on the phone to what Lexa thought sounded like a scout report.  
“Hehehehe brilliant. Bet he won’t try that again.”  
“Andraste’s tits, what about the crew?”  
“pffft not likely.”  
“Well that was stupid. Okay, gotta run. Don’t get killed, yeah?”  
Sera hung up and her eyes went serious for a moment, like she was considering something she’d rather forget about. Lexa had noticed she seemed kind of on edge lately, worrying and scolding along with her usual wisecracking. After all, she was the leader of the largest organized group of smugglers, bounty hunters, and professional mischief makers this side of the Waking Sea. Sera had cultivated the singular persona Red Jenny for herself to give the disorganized organization some much needed leadership, to prevent it from becoming scattered and corrupt in the chaos that resulted from the disaster that was the Exalted Council. 

Lexa slid into a seat at the large table and immediately noticed the plate of cookies just out of her reach. Early morning meetings were a fate almost worse than death, but at least Sera made up for it by always having snacks. Although sometimes she snuck a little elfroot in the batter just to mess with people. 

Sera shook herself out of her thoughts when she noticed Lexa reaching for a cookie and gave her a crooked grin. 

“Morning, you. Heard you had some fun last night. Not sure it was worth getting shot though. Your arm looks like shite.”

Lexa rolled her eyes and took a bite of the cookie. Cranberries and cinnamon? Not bad.

“The car is in worse shape than me and your girlfriend already gave me the mom lecture downstairs,” she said through a mouthful of crumbs.

Sera opened her mouth for an equally flippant retort but was interrupted by the door opening as the Iron Bull and a few of his Chargers filed in. 

Bull grinned at Lexa on his way past and affectionately tousled her hair. “How’s it going, kid?”

“Fuck off, dad,” Lexa said in a syrupy sweet tone. 

The Iron Bull wasn’t Lexa’s real father of course, but he had this way of slipping into dad mode whenever he was around Lexa so that the nickname she started as a joke ended up sticking. These days the Red Jennies and the Chargers, Bull’s private elite mercenary group, were doing a lot of business together so Lexa actually saw him at least once or twice a week. 

Bull chuckled his deep and hearty laugh as he and the others took their places around the table. 

“Ooooh somebody’s up too early,” he teased. Lexa threw a cookie at him and smirked. 

Bull dodged the projectile and turned to Sera. 

“So, what’s the big news? You said you had an unusual job that you wanted some extra help with.”

“Yeah about that,” Sera started, trying to keep the worry out of her voice. “Heard some rumors the last couple of weeks. Thought they were nonsense at first. But we’ve got a real problem. Quiz is missing.” 

Bull leaned forward with a concerned look. “You uh, want to be a little more specific, Sera?”

Sera waved her hands around in an impatient, vague gesture. 

“Gone! Disappeared! Left us. Left Thedas? I dunno, she went through one of those spooky elf mirrors like Morrigan had. Cullen said she’s been obsessed over her precious elven man leaving her and keeps going through old books. Lots of crazy talk about elfy stuff, something about the Wolf and the Halla, whatever the fuck that means. She’s been gone for three weeks and no one has heard from her. Poor Cully-Wully is all torn up over it, thinks it’s his fault.”

“Shiiiiiiiiit,” Bull groaned, leaning back in his chair. 

“An eluvian?” Lexa said, perking up with interest. Lexa Adaar was bookish by nature and loved staying up at night reading all kinds of books and journals about whatever scientific or magical topic piqued her interest on a given day. Before her real parents had died they were extremely strict about her not having anything to do with magic after she started showing signs of some unusual abilities when she was a child. There had been some moderate reforms to Qunari society in recent years, so the Adaars were able to legally declare themselves Tal-Vashoth and live outside the confining oversight of the Qun with little to no repercussions but still, they didn’t want their daughter being taken in by the Ben-Hassrath and drafted as a Saarebas. 

Mages were still regarded with extreme suspicion and prejudice under the Qun, but the government had shifted its policy towards magic somewhat in response to the threat that Corypheus had posed. Now, Qunari displaying magical talent were transferred to training facilities to have their “unnatural” talents honed into powerful weapons ostensibly for the protection of the Qunari people, but really for the benefit of the Ben-Hassrath. Lexa remembered the stories her parents always told her growing up about how any Qunari that showed a hint of magical talent would be abducted by government agents showing up at their house or workplace, never to be seen again by their families. This was why the Adaars had moved to Ferelden when Lexa was ten years old. They didn’t want to risk that life for Lexa so they tried to encourage and steer her interests in other areas. 

Of course, being a curious teenager Lexa gravitated towards anything magical even though she didn’t have any formal training as a mage. Mostly she just studied books, reading whatever she could get her hands on. Lately she had been fascinated with the eluvians, contemplating what magic caused them to work and what places they led to. Now, it sounded like she might have a chance to see one in person.

“What does this have to do with us?” Lexa asked Sera, hoping she already knew the answer. 

“Well we have to go after her, don’t we?!” Sera shouted. “And besides, Commander Noodle – uh, Cullen hired us to anyway. Wanted to keep it quiet and thought the Jennies could do it without the white and red hats at the chantry poking their gilded little noses into everything and causing more trouble.” 

Bull held up a finger to ask a question. “Wait, you’re making it sound like she went off the rails and took off on some crazy dangerous solo mission. Why didn’t she just use the eluvian at Skyhold if she wanted to access the Crossroads?”

“Guess that one broke after Coryphyfish or something,” Sera shrugged. “Seven years bad luck, that. Anyway, Cullen said she found out there was a mirror in this high security chantry vault where they keep all kinds of stuff they don’t want anyone else to have. Quiz snuck in, went through the mirror and no one knows what happened to her after that.”

Lexa raised her eyebrows incredulously and drained the last of the coffee from her thermos. “This must be serious if Commander Cullen is desperate enough to allow the Red Jennies to take the lead on this… wait, what is this actually? A rescue mission? What are we getting into here?”

Bull started nodding his head as it dawned on him what this plan was shaping up to be. 

“Let me take a wild guess. You’re putting together a small team to break into this vault where the eluvian is being held, we’re just going to stroll through to the other side, have a look around, say ‘Hey boss, you in here?’ and you want the Chargers along for the ride because who knows what kind of shit is on the other side of that damn magic mirror so you’d feel better with some extra firepower?”

Sera gave him a weak smile. “yeah, that about sums it up… Look, you know I hate all this stupid elfy shite and walking through one of those creepy mirrors is almost as bad as that time we fell into the fucking Fade, but -”

“I’m in, when do we leave?” Bull asked, slapping his palms on the table as he stood up. The table cracked under the force of his hands and he looked around sheepishly. “uh, sorry.”

“This is why we can’t have nice things!” Lexa quipped jokingly.

Sera pointed at her arm. “Uh no, you are why you can’t have nice things. Get your arse to the healer and fix that arm before tomorrow.”

“Whyyyyyy? It’s just a flesh wound and healers are so expensive.”

Sera tossed her a bundle of cash rolled up with a rubber band. It hit lexa on the forehead and startled her from scrolling through the music app on her phone. She was already compiling a playlist for the trip. Every great adventure, smuggling run, or top secret rescue mission needed a good soundtrack.

“Because you need both arms working to drive this circus wagon, luv. If we’re breaking into a supermax security Chantry fortress we’ll need you behind the wheel. Oh, and find something a little bigger than a sportscar this time, yeah? We’ve got Big and Tall and his band of merry men along for the ride so maybe an SUV or something?”

“Men and women, thanks very much,” interjected Bull. “And Dalish isn’t very merry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and feedback are always welcome!


	3. Creepy Government Lab Basement Scene

“Something’s wrong,” Bull muttered suspiciously, stepping over another body. 

Lexa, Sera, Bull, and a handful of Jennies and Chargers were making their way through the lower levels of the central compound making up the Chantry base. There had been a brief car chase, a few explosions between the entrance gate on the outer edges of the compound and the main building, and Lexa had smashed their stolen SUV through the main entrance where the team took up positions expecting an entrenched firefight, but the Templar security forces had oddly retreated and seemed unwilling to pursue them into the building. 

It soon became clear that the Templars were afraid of something inside, and with good reason. Every single person inside the structure had been slaughtered. Violently. Sera complained that it was starting to feel like a scene out of a horror movie with the lights mostly shot out or flickering, the base apparently on backup emergency power. 

“Guess someone got here before us, yeah?” Lexa whispered, poking at a lifeless Templar with the end of her pistol. He hadn’t been killed by bullets. He looked like he had been crushed by an enormous physical force; his body armor was cracked and in pieces like shattered ceramic. 

“Well whoever they are, they’re either already gone or down in the lower levels,” Bull said. “This eerie quiet is creeping me out. Stay sharp, this wasn’t in the plan.”

“Seems like they’re a fan of sharp pointy things,” commented Sera, making a face at a body covered in slash marks. “Must be ninjas.” 

Bull shot her a dubious look. “Ninjas? Really?” 

Sera shrugged as she carefully stepped around the pool of blood spreading away from the body. “Sure, why not? Why shouldn’t it be ninjas?”

Lexa brushed her hair over one ear and squinted at the screen of the small tablet strapped to her forearm. “We need to get to sublevel fifteen. Stairs are up ahead and to the left. Elevators probably aren’t working.” Dagna had rigged up a tracking sensor for Lexa that showed the location of the eluvian that was in storage down in the lowest underground level of the building. 

Sera and Bull bickered in hushed tones about the probability of actual ninjas being the cause of the carnage all the way down the stairs. When they finally reached the bottom level and were nearing the main storage room where Lexa said the eluvian was, the silence was broken by noises of gunfire, screams, thuds and crashes, clanging and scraping of metal, and an occasional blood-curdling shriek of rage on the other side of the doors at the end of the hall. 

“Maker’s ass,” hissed Sera as they came up to the doors. “What the hell is that??” 

“Maybe it’s the ninjas,” said Lexa with a sidelong glance. 

Bull gritted his teeth and grunted, gearing up to charge through the door. 

“Come on, if we go now we’ll get the jump on them and OOOF-” he was cut off as a Templar was thrown through the door like a rag doll and sailed right into him, almost knocking him to the floor. 

Everyone instantly trained their weapons on the soldier as he cowered on the ground and put his hands up defensively. 

“Please, help me! Maker, don’t… don’t let her kill me! She’s insane. She’s a nightmare!” 

“Who is?!” Sera demanded, standing over him and jabbing the barrel of her rifle against his temple. “What the hell is going on in there? Is it demons? Please tell me it’s not demons.” 

“I don’t know, she came out of the mirror! Please, just let me get out of here!” the Templar begged. “You should run too, before she khakhlk-” 

The man’s words were cut off as his eyes went wide and blood trickled from his mouth. As he was speaking, Lexa saw out of the corner of her eye something that looked like a long, thin shadow or plume of smoke shoot out of the doorway of the storage room towards the Templar and arc downwards to impale him in the chest. Before anyone could react, the shadow expanded to envelop his torso and dragged him back into the room. Bull, Lexa, and Sera exchanged glances and ran towards the room and through the door, Lexa bursting through first. What she saw stopped her in her tracks. 

The dim room was wide and long, the only light coming from the faintly glowing eluvian as it stood positioned in the center with various clamps, sensors, and hunks of machinery holding it in place. As Lexa’s eyes adjusted to the dark she saw strewn around the room the broken and decimated bodies of over a dozen Templar shock troops in full body armor and heavy weapons. The one Templar still alive that had been dragged back into the room was on his hands and knees, coughing up blood and trembling. 

Standing in front of the Templar appeared to be a young woman, an elf from the looks of her extraordinarily long ears. There was something unnervingly about her though, with her wild dark hair and the palest skin you could possibly imagine, almost ghost-like. She was most certainly not a normal, mortal elf. Maybe it was the stark lighting of the eluvian, but Lexa thought she looked as ashen as death. The elven creature regarded the Templar with an icy gaze of calm hatred. Lexa cautiously took a few steps forward since the girl completely ignored her crashing into the room. 

“Hey,” Lexa called, trying to sound authoritative. 

The creature slowly turned her head first and then her eyes in Lexa’s direction. Her eyes were completely, utterly black but her irises were a brilliant glowing blue. She snapped her attention back to the Templar when he started to scuttle away from her.

She was unarmed but her hands were streaked with blood, and a dark tattooed pattern of thorny vine shapes wound its way from the backs of her palms up and around both her forearms. The marks twisted and swirled on her skin as if alive, like snakes coiling up her limbs. She started moving towards the Templar with slow, deliberate steps. She thrust her right hand down towards the floor in a sudden jerking motion and the tattoo pattern rapidly spiraled down past her wrist, stretching out from the middle of her palm as it solidified into a blade as dark as obsidian. Her head tilted lazily to one side as her lips twisted into a snarling smirk. 

“Where is your courage now, o brave Templar?” she taunted in a high and delicate voice. Her voice seemed like it was multiple voices speaking and whispering, the sounds inside Lexa’s mind as well as coming from the girl’s mouth. It made Lexa’s skin crawl and the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “Remind me, what does your precious chant say about courage?”

The Templar had struggled to his feet and began to frantically whisper to himself. 

“B-blessed are they who… who stand before the corrupt and the wicked and do not f-f-falter.”

The Templar shakily raised his rifle. The girl threw her hand out in front of her and the dark blade shot out from her palm and sliced the man’s weapon in half. She continued walking towards him as the shadow retracted into her hand, the tattooed vines slithering up her arm once more.

“Blessed are the p-peacekeepers, the… the champions of the just.” 

The man reached for a knife strapped to his vest and again the blade shot through the air, severing his hand. He screamed and dropped to his knees, clutching the bleeding stump of his wrist. The girl continued towards the Templar. 

“B-b-blessed are the righteous, the lights in the sh-shadow,” he whimpered, closing his eyes and bowing his head. 

The pale creature was looming over him now and grabbed the back of his head, turning his face up to hers as she leaned in close, her eyes flaring a brighter blue.

“In their blood the maker’s will is written,” she hissed, finishing the canticle for him. As she pronounced the last word, she jabbed the blade through his jaw and up into his skull. 

The elf let out a long sigh through her nose as she straightened up and let the Templar’s body drop to the floor. She turned now to Lexa and blinked calmly as if nothing had happened. Lexa uneasily adjusted her grip on the pistol she was pointing at this… What was she? 

“Are you Chantry?” the young creature asked in the same unnatural, many-voiced tone. 

“No,” Lexa replied quickly, flinching at the unearthly voice invading her mind. “We’re here for the…” She glanced at the eluvian and swallowed hard. “We’re looking for Inquisitor Lavellan.”

At this point Sera and Bull moved up beside Lexa, weapons drawn and flashlights shining on the figure before them.

“What the fuck?” said Bull incredulously. He glanced down at Lexa. “You okay, kid?” 

“Definitely not ninjas,” Lexa whispered.

Sera remained silent, here wide eyes staring viciously like an angry cat ready to pounce. 

The elf creature calmly glanced back and forth from Sera to Bull. 

“The Iron Bull with his Chargers, and Sera of the Red Jennies,” she said in recognition. “You are friends of the Wolf and Halla. I mean you no harm.” Her features relaxed into what was supposed to be a reassuring smile as she clasped her still bloody hands in front of her. She looked a little smaller now. 

“And who the fuck are you, you walking nightmare?” demanded Sera. She fired off a round from her long rifle but the bullet stopped in midair, an inch from the face of the ashen elf girl. The bullet dropped to the ground, the sound echoing in the large space. 

The girl looked at the carnage of bodies all around them, opened her bloodstained palms and regarded them, nodding to herself. 

“I apologize, my appearance must be somewhat unsettling for you.” 

She closed her eyes as her entire form rippled, fading in and out like a mirage. When her appearance stabilized the blood was gone from her pale hands, her long dark hair was pulled back and braided along the sides of her head, and she was wearing a simple black dress, the hem of which stopped just past her knees so that Lexa could see she was barefoot. The three quarter length sleeves of her dress showed that the swirling vine patterns on her arms were still present, though they were motionless. Now that Lexa could see them up close, they reminded her of the vallaslin that some elves still wore as traditional clan markings. Her eyes were the same though, the unnatural black contrasted by glowing blue irises. Her skin was like ash on fresh snow, pristine white sprinkled with grey freckles. 

“I am Vengeance,” she declared. “A spirit of vengeance given form and purpose. You may call me Ras’lahna. That is the name I have chosen for myself. And again, I mean you no harm.” She looked pointedly at Sera as she spread her hands wide, gesturing at the destruction all around them. 

“I bring a message from the Dread Wolf Fen’Harel and his vhenan, the one you call Inquisitor.”

Sera and Bull exchanged confused, worried glances. 

“The time of the shems is done,” Ras’lahna said matter-of-factly. 

“…Meaning what, exactly?” said Bull slowly.

“Now is the time for the Elvhen to be restored,” she continued. “The veil has held our people back for too long, denying us our magic. No longer will the shemlen be allowed to impose their tyranny on this world. The Wolf and the Halla will bring freedom and power to all those who suffer and are oppressed, and doom upon any who oppose them.” 

“Shit,” thought Lexa. “She’s cute.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ras'lahna!
> 
> Here's how I came up with her name:   
> Ras’lahna --> Shadowed voice of revenge or voice of revenge out of shadows.   
> From the words ras (shadow) + lah (voice) + nan (revenge, violent rage in purpose of revenge) 
> 
> Credit to FenxShiral, who is an absolute gift: https://archiveofourown.org/series/229061


End file.
